Cork traffic
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The tight corner does nothing postitive to elderly, disabled or persons with limited mobility. Because they all are on the footpath when you're making that turn. When the light turns green for them they can cross and take all the time they need. I really don't see how making my driving inconvenient makes them more safe. That's some proper BS agenda. Where's the disabled, elderly or persons with limited mobility on Harbourview road. Nowhere. This junction belongs to motorised vehicles, not pedestrians or cyclists. No matter how inconvenient anyone makes for thousands of people driving through here, this will always be like that.
No cycling infrastructure in Lisbon, do you know why? Hills. Everywhere. Steep. Cork is 40+% hills.
Consideration to who, jaywalkers? I am sorry but I have no sympathy for these. People need to stay off the roads or they will get hurt. Go ahead and try to jaywalk elsewhere in Europe, people will think you're an idiot. I think there's a law here that if there's a pedestrian crossing 25m from you then you have to use it. But hey, in a city with no cops I don't think anyone will ever get fined.
Prioritising cycling makes no sense. If there was demand ok, but it seems they build all these cycle lanes and hope that people just start cycling. Apart from deliveroo very few people cycle. And the city spaces are safer already actually, do you read stories in the news about drivers knocking down pedestrians? Not really, it's an adrenaline sport to drive a car in cork, always have to be vigilant and look out for these morons on every corner.
You'll see handful of people cycling to Apple in the morning sometimes, but because there's showers there. Would anyone cycle to Mayfiled from town to spend a day there and then cycle back? No. It kinda sucks to be covered in sweat first thing in the morning.
it's stupid. all of it.
No I will not grab a bus. I don't go to town, there's nothing interesting there for me.
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I was there in mid September, it was 30 degrees during the day and 25 degrees in the evening. Dry. While sending pictures to my friends over here I was getting pictures from them, it was all rain and wind. Not ideal for cycling.
When you look at cork city centre from above it's all buildings and roads. Very few parks. Where's the benches where you can sit down? See that's the thing, it's not just weather and hills. It's the nature of the city. Shops, restaurants etc. No parks, no open space. Even Waterford has wide streets and you feel like you can relax there.
In Bordeaux the buildings are like 50 meters from the river. Plenty of space in general, parks and places to chill. You can grab a beer from the nearest supermarket and just relax, enjoy the weather. You don't have to look for a place to go to, you just look around and find a spot somehere nearby wherever you are. Or just look at the map to find something.
Or you can cross the river. Play some basketball, bring some music with you there's nobody around. Again, cold beer is handy. There are places to go there.
In cork it's all roads and buildings everywhere in city centre. You really have nowhere to go.
If I would move to Bordeaux first thing I am getting is a bicycle. Best thing to get around over there. I wanted to go to the train station on Sunday, instead of waiting for the tram (up to 10 minutes) and then getting there (10-15 minutes) I fired up the app, reserved closest bike and cycled there. In less than 10 minutes for like 3-4 euro.
You can cycle to Marina, or Lee fields. Or Fitzgerald's park. But where do you go from there? Suppose you make it to Lee fields. Can you continue cycling along the river to Inniscarra? I mean along the river where you are looking at the actual river, not on a road where there's cars passing you all the time.
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The problem is that everything is private property, or vast majority of the land. That's why cycling is limited by this. You can cycle to Cobh yes, where else? Somewhere interesting. Not much towards west, north or east of cork city. And even when you go to cobh you just want that nice weather, and there isn't much of it.
Like in Prague you can cycle along there river towards south for like 20km's. And there's kiosks along the way, you can grab a hot dog or a beer (or 5 beers who cares, we only live once). There's playgrounds for kids, while you're drinking one beer after another. I never did it because I never had time but that's what life is like there.
The nature of the land here will not let you do that, we are limited to what's currently available as public space and there isn't much of it. For that reason recreational cycling is not really a thing, that's why the cycle lanes in city centre are empty and they will stay empty.
I am not against cycling, I am against illogical behavour, non sense. I don't like when stuff makes no sense. And driving along these empty cycle lanes, it's just weird. Who the F cycles from Glanmire to city centre? I never saw anyone cycling along the road there.
Like if there was a kiosk with beers and hot dogs down by the Lee fields I would have a reason to go there on my bicycle but not a hope this can happen 😂 People would just get sh1tfaced and for this reason there's no drinking allowed in public.
Some late night in August, I can feel the heat. I can taste the beer she's pouring. Like it makes sense to cycle over there, but not here I am sorry but forget about it. There's very few warm evenings here, maybe you can have a can of beer that's about it, but will you enjoy it? Like elsewhere in Europe?
Where around Inniscarra you can take a picure like this? By the yacht club maybe, but how do you get there from Cork? By cycling on the road all the way there? That doesn't sound like fun... or enjoyable. If you're thirsty there's no beer stands along the way either.
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What planet are you on? There is no pedestrian crossing where Ballinlough Road meets Boreenmanna Road:
You’d be happy for your young child or elderly parent to try to cross the road at that junction would you? If pedestrians want to be seen by the often fast moving traffic on Boreenmanna Road, they have to cross apex to apex which is a distance of 25-30m. If they walk around the curve into Ballinlough Road so as to reduce the crossing distance, they become invisible. Neither is a good option.
There is no pedestrian crossing where Churchyard Lane meets the Well Road either by the way (or the vast majority of t-junctions around the city). But at least at this location the junction has been made much safer by narrowing the entrance and putting in speed bumps.
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Maybe along the water to Belém, but when you look a the city centre it's all hills. I was there, not exactly cycling friendly. Trams and cable cars will take you pretty much anywhere...
Cathedral road or Blarney street they are both just brutal. I see sometimes Deliveroo lads collecting food from Subway/BK in the garage in Holyhill and they all have electric bikes. It's too much effort for couple of euros to cycle all the way up there on a regular bike. Again, very few cycling to/from Apple but other than that no other cyclists really.
Some side streets could be a slight challenge (cobblestones) in Bordeaux but wide main roads are good for cycling (they really need to resurface that one road that leads to the train station). Not everywhere you have cycle lanes available but I felt safe cycling on my Lime bike there even on the road. Cycling along the river was really nice. Plenty of space, away from cars. You don't even hear them cars at the widest parts. From the skatepark passing the Place de la Bourse you can go all the way down. When you stop at the Place de la Bourse and look around you'll see people going up and down along the river all the time. Place is buzzing. The best thing about the Lime bikes is you can just park it somewhere at the designated place and that's it. You paid, ride is over.. carry on. Great thing. I definitely prefered the bikes over the e-scooters because the seats were really comfy.
Well quaysides... you see there is no space that's the problem. The whole city centre should have the same amount of buildings but needs to be 2x bigger.
You could do similar but you would have to build a new city from scratch. Cork city with the current layout isn't suitable for cycling. You need to find a place on a map (flat ideally, or few small hills) and create a city from nothing. Wide roads, plenty of parks. Apartment blocks 3-4 storey high, shopping centres with underground parking etc.
Example, the Lough. This whole area should be green. Trees, footpaths. two three coffee stands, decent sized playground for kids, skate park... everything else just grass... you know, a place to go to on you bike... when the weather si decent enough.
And where would all the people live?
In buildings like this. These would make more sense than the houses with wasted space in front of the house and back garden that's unused for 8-9 months a year.
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And another thing apart from cycling infrastructure or the layout of Cork city is the behaviour of cyclists. Nowhere else you see what you see here. Like the village mentality is just astounding really. Significant amount of cyclists are vulnerable because they lack intelligence. They are danger to themselves and others. All these below are few examples that I bothered saving from my dashcam footage. You really need to be vigilant when driving and walking in Cork.
This is pretty much standard in Cork city.
and then without giving a hand signal he just turns to Mardyke.
No lights, another standard in Cork city. They have lights in Dealz for couple of euros. How on earth anybody thinks it's ok to cycle without front and rear light?
Why would you cycle on a footpath? Why? Use the road.
Special kind of stupid.
this guy, ignoring a STOP sign. There was a HGV behind me, empty one but this isn't joke at all. Stop, look and wait. It's that simple.
Car is turning left, cyclist unbothered just crosses the road.
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You arrive at this junction (which since has been resurfaced) - YOU CAN ONLY TURN RIGHT HERE
The Traffic coming from the left road is minor - it's a minor narrow road yet they have right of way !
You turn left into Wallaces Avenue - you are faced with a road that has double yellow lines but cars are parked on those lines - cars are parked on BOTH SIDES and yes this is a 2 way street NOT a one way street.
Churchyard Lane - end of Boreennamannagh Road - Cycle Lane on the left has no barriers so it becomes a car park if or when there are ball games in the nearby playing pitches (Rugby and GAA) - Even if Garda are present the bicycle lane is ignored.
New Housing Estate on the right with the odd name of 'Alesbury' - formerly an Eircom depot - they got planning permission to build many houses there - yes housing is needed but a high rise car park should have been built there for the 3 local football arenas.
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I understand clamping very well, but not on a private property, where you are basically seizing property in exchange for ransom. Not ok.
Ok, it's exagerrated, but so is making a tigher turn in the name of safety, when there isn't even a footpath along the road. Like wtf are they doing? No, it's not ok. It worked perfectly fine before, now it's pain in the ass for every single motorist that has to drive through here. I posted pictures of examples, it's happening every day. Is this progress? Not at all.
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The real problem in Cork city are pedestrians and cyclists, not drivers of motor vehicles. But somehow somebody (stupid) decided that cars are a problem.
Why would you start crossing the road when there's a car coming towards you? We don't drive on footpaths so please, stay away from the road when you're not supposed to be on it.
There isn't enough of parking space in the city centre and they are making the footpaths wider for no apparent reason. People will park their cars wherever it's possible.
one of few examples, Anglesea street outside the district court. Always somebody parked there blocking the lane. Usually cops, which is kinda strange because they are the ones who should follow the rules and laws.
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I went to McDonald's in Douglas recently (because for some reason the one in mahon point SC is now closing at 6pm, so in order to have a milkshake before going to a cinema you now have to drive somewhere else apparently...).
Wow! Just look at this, why would anyone do this. People scraping their oil sumps over it. Brutal! What happened? Somebody died here in this car park? Was there accidents here happening every day? Or maybe there's no real reason, it's just a part of the whole city being destroyed.
Oh and when I was leaving this car park the car ahead of me rolled back at me. Nice, really nice. Is this the future?
It seems like it's just some weird trend or something at the moment (hopefully temporary). Just ruin the roads for all the drivers. Make their driving experience miserable. Behind Dunnes stores in bishopstown same, 4-5 speed bumps for no reason all of them like 5 meters from each other. Blackpool shopping centre, that multi storey car park, absolutely brutal speed bumps in that whole building. I drove over them once after they installed them, and it was for the last time. I will never ever go there again. And that car park in the middle is a nightmare anyway, all the time some cars pulling out, and cars crawling. Ugh. Just a mess. Better park outside the gym further away from all this and walk to dunnes stores/polish shop/Chinese takeaway etc. Make it as easy as possible without unnecessary hassle.
When I mentioned mahon point SC, they made a mess out of it too. Those raised pedestrian crossings, way too high. Proper BS. Also jumping on the bandwagon with all the empty cycle lanes as we can all see. "Look at us, we're progressive, everyone will cycle. Let's just wait and see.." Pathetic.
All this will backfire. People won't bother going shopping anymore. Example: will I go to Blackpool to Woodie's to buy a bulb for €8? No, I will buy 3 of them on Amazon for the same price. I don't have to go anywhere to drive over stupid speed bumps and instead of the money for petrol I'll pay for delivery. Or Amazon prime in this case. Most of the stuff is on eBay and Amazon anyway. If you can wait just order it online. I ordered a lot of stuff directly from China and waited weeks to get it. Saved 100's of euros over the years. Why pay €10 when I can wait 3-4 weeks and pay €6 instead. Makes sense to me.
So now when they are actively ruining city centre people won't bother going there anymore. Not enough on street parking, it's more difficult to manoeuvre a vehicle in the name of safety or whatever the reason is. What a joke. Are they adding speed bumps too? More raised pedestrian crossings? Well good luck with that, I already don't really go there that often so it won't bother me than much.
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